The River
by moosmiles
Summary: Several friends die in tragic accidents and Gabriella, Chad, Jason, and Kelsi suffer terribly. TK, TC, KC, ZG, JG Rated for death


**The River**

"What team?" Chad cheered as the gang piled into cars after a winning basketball game.

"WILDCATS!" the other cheered.

Troy started the first car, heading to the river. He, Kelsi, Sharpay, and Ryan were packed into his Mercedes.

Taylor giggled at her boyfriend as she started her minivan containing herself, Gabriella, Zeke, Chad, and Jason.

Troy turned on the radio as loud as he could and then the car spun out of control. Sharpay screamed. Troy forgot about the breaks and fumbled to undo Kelsi's seatbelt. He opened her door and threw her out the car and into the river after the belt had come undone. The other three teens sank along with the car into the deep river.

Kelsi bobbed to the top of the river. "NOOO!" she screamed out, tears streaming down her face.

Taylor braked her car and got out of the minivan. Chad, Gabriella Jason and Zeke followed close behind.

Chad ran out to Kelsi as she tried to swim to the bottom of the river to save Troy, Sharpay, and Ryan. He pulled her up with him and she started gasping as he carried her to the shore. She jumped out of his arms.

"No!" Kelsi sobbed, jumping up and down in as if she were a child having tantrum. "Troy! Sharpay! Ryan!" She was about to jump in herself, but Chad held her back.

"They're gone, Kelsi," Chad stated with tears in his eyes.

"No!" she cried, beating him in the gut. He closed his eyes, tears falling from the brown orbs as he sucked in all her punching,

"They're gone, Playmaker... They're really gone..." he whispered.

"No!" she shouted and finally shoved him away. She collapsed on her knees, sobbing in her hands.

Taylor and Gabriella fell down next to her and they all hugged each other as they mourned together.

* * *

Kelsi sat at the funeral, sobbing into her hands. She was in the front row with her friends and made her way up to the caskets. She went to Troy's first.

A smile fell to her lips as she remembered everything he had done for her over the years. She looked at his face and felt like she could pull him in her arms and kiss him just one last like.

"I love you, Troy," she whispered and then made her way to Ryan's casket.

He looked just like Troy had, sound asleep as if both boys would wake up any second now. She let out a choked sob, closing her eyes and before the sight of Ryan could make her break down all the way, she raced to Sharpay's side.

Sharpay was still in her cheerleading outfit. She was the only one of the three who really looked dead. Her face was paler than either of the boys and the crimson red had practically drained from her sweater and skirt, mixed with the white to make a light pink tint.

That's when it happened. Kelsi broke down crying wholeheartedly. Her friends were gone. The man she loved. The boy who loved her. And the girl who did everything in her will to sabotage her and yet loved her still the same. Troy Bolton, Ryan Evans, and Sharpay Evans were dead all dead. No matter how much she wouldn't admit it, Kelsi knew it in her heart that they could never come back. No matter how much she wanted it.

* * *

Two years later in the summer, Chad, Gabriella Zeke, Jason, and Kelsi was hanging out at the lake for a day. Chad, Jason, Gabriella and Zeke were spraying each other with water guns, while Taylor emailed Kelsi in a chair she was sitting in.

She pressed send and then put her computer back in her minivan. She started making the boys something to eat, when they started spraying her. She screamed.

"CHAD!" she yelled, chasing after him.

Jason, Gabriella, and Zeke laughed as they watched as Taylor chased Chad around the low cliff.

"Chad, I'm gonna kill y..." Taylor was cut off by a slip of her foot and fell into the river, screaming.

"TAYLOR!" Gabriella screamed, reaching her hand out for Taylor to take it.

They watched bubbles rise to the top of the water, but after a few moments, they stopped altogether. The gang waited a few more minutes for Taylor to come up. Her body floated to the top and Zeke and Jason pulled her out.

Chad checked for a pulse and heartbeat.

He shook his head and started crying. Gabriella pulled her legs to her chest and sobbed against her knees. Jason pulled her into his arms and she trembled as she cried on. Zeke just sat there in shock.

"How do we tell Kelsi?" Zeke finally broke the silence with a heartbreaking question.

"Oh my god! Kelsi!" Gabriella yelled, pulling away from Jason.

They collected their things, wrapped Taylor in a blanket, putting her in the back seat gently as if a movement would awake her, and then Gabriella drove off.

* * *

Kelsi was making herself something to eat when she heard a sound from her computer. She stopped cooking and made her way to the computer.

She sat down and opened up an email from Taylor.

_**Hey Babe!**_

_**Don't let anyone there bring you down! You stick in there and you're gonna be a star, Lovely! We miss you dearly, Playmaker! Zeke and I the most! And love you more! 'Ella, Jase, and Zeke tell me to say 'hi' and Chad says 'kick ass' (we know you will)!**_

_**Love,**_

_**'Lor**_

Kelsi smiled at Taylor's encouragement. Taylor always sent something that could cheer Kelsi up. She had gotten into Anderson University and was writing musicals for the drama program. Most of the kids said bad things about Kelsi, but she didn't care. Taylor, Gabriella, Chad, Jason, and Zeke were all that matter.

Taylor the most though. Taylor had been her best friend since preschool, even though they only had one class a week together in preschool and then had almost all their classes together through the next fourteen years. Now Taylor was with the others down in Albuquerque and Kelsi was in Indiana.

Just then, Kelsi's phone rang. She reluctantly got up to answer.

"Hello?" she questioned. "Chad?... Whoa! Slow down!... What?... No! Not 'Lor! Anyone, but 'Lor!... I'll be there on the next flight out... Thanks..."

Kelsi hung up and collapsed on the floor, sobbing, "'Lor! NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Kelsi sat at the piano at Gabriella, Zeke, Chad, and Jason's. Her fingers rested gently on the keys and she started playing.

After a few measures, Kelsi slammed the piano cover closed and then sobbed as she made her way back to Taylor's old room, which was now her own. She was moving back to Albuquerque and no one tried to change to her mind since Kelsi could be as stubborn as a bull.

She sat on the forest green comforter that covered the bed and then breathed in Taylor's scent that still lingered in the cloths. She let out the breath shakily as she trembled, trying to continue to breathe through her mourning.

* * *

The next morning, Chad walked into Kelsi's room and found her lying on the bed, sobbing in her sleep. Chad lay next to her and pulled her into his arms as she let out aloud a cry of heartache and want. He rubbed her back, kissing her hair as she shoved her head into his chest.

"I know, Playmaker... I know..." he whispered as tears watered in his own eyes. He closed his eyes and then quickly opened them to meet her horrified blue ones. She looked at him with want and he leaned down to kiss her. She met him halfway as his hands traveled down her body.

* * *

Gabriella paced in the hallway of the hospital crying a few months later. Zeke had gotten hit by a car walking home earlier that day. Kelsi got up and hugged her as a doctor came out.

"I'm sorry, Miss Montez," the doctor apologized. "He didn't make it."

Gabriella fell to the ground sobbing in her own arms. Jason kneeled next to her, holding her tightly. Her fiancée was dead.

* * *

Kelsi stood in church a few years later with Chad and their little girl, MacKenzie Sharpay Taylor, in her arms during Taylor's baptism.

Chad looked at Kelsi, snapping her back to reality when their eyes met. "Kelsi?" he whispered questioningly.

She smiled, nodding. "We do," she agreed. She knew Taylor, Ryan, Sharpay, Zeke, and Troy were in a better place and that knowing that made Chad and Kelsi Danforth happy enough, Jason and Gabriella Cross as well.

Gabriella took MacKenzie, cradling her goddaughter in her arms, cooing softly to her. Jason wrapped an arm around his wife as the four walked down the aisle of the church.

They then walked out to the cemetery slowly, stopping at each stone they knew of for a few moments for silent eulogy.

_**Troy Leonardo Bolton**_

_**May 18, 1990 – February 8, 2006**_

_**Ryan Abraham Brian Curtis Evans**_

_**June 22, 1990 – February 8, 2006**_

_**Sharpay Amelia Blanca Clare Evans**_

_**June 22, 1990 – February 8, 2006**_

_**Taylor Ashley McKessie**_

_**October 30, 1989 – July 28, 2008**_

_**Ezekiel Peter Dayton**_

_**December 4 – January 1, 2009**_

Kelsi sighed heavily, stopping at Troy's, longing to be held by him once again. Chad stopped at Taylor's, wanting her to give him one more chance. Jason stopped at Sharpay and Ryan's remembering how he never really gave them another shot at being his friends. Gabriella stopped at Zeke's, begging God to just take her up there to be with him.

MacKenzie wailed in her aunt's arms and then the four adults turned their attention to the crying babe.

"C'mere, Sweetheart," Kelsi said, taking her one month old.

"We know, Baby... We shouldn't have brought you here. No!" Chad cooed to his daughter as she took his finger.

"We're sorry, 'Kenzie," Jason apologized.

"Very sorry," Gabriella nodded in agreement.

"'Ella, do you know where her bear went?" Chad asked.

"Um... I'll go check the car, but I'm not sure," Gabriella shrugged in reply and made her way back to the car.

Kelsi followed close behind with Chad and Jason on her heals.

Gabriella jumped out of the jeep with a teddy bear, handing it to Kelsi. "God, that place is a nightmare," Gabriella noted, sniffling.

"Oh, 'Ella," Jason sighed, pulling her into his arms.

"It's just hormones, Jase," Gabriella assured, but still held onto her husband for support.

Kelsi nodded in agreement, "Yeah... I really miss Troy and Taylor. When we were little Taylor used to write little notes for me about her day and then some encouraging words for my horrible days... Like when you picked on me." She looked at Chad and they shared a small kiss.

"We all miss them," Chad reminded.

The four stood there as a gently breeze blew by.

Jason shivered, "I say we just get back to the mansion and listen to some music. Maybe Kelsi's new CD."

Kelsi rolled her eyes at Jason joking about her famous CD called 'River of Tears'.

"I'd like to listen to it. The baby really likes it," Gabriella nodded.

"And I love your music," Chad added.

Kelsi groaned, "Fine... Let's go before I change my mind."

* * *

Once back at the house Kelsi put MacKenzie down for a nap and then went into the living room, where they started the CD. Her favorite song was the first one... 'The River'.

She looked at Jason and Gabriella, who were on the couch taking an afternoon nap and then at her husband. She stared at him during the whole song.

"_On a Friday night where I grew up  
There ain't a whole lot you can do  
The same ole' faces the same ole' places  
Ain't nothin' ever new  
After the football game we'd hang around  
The high school parking lot  
Then we'd pile into a couple of cars  
And head off to our favorite spot _

Down to the river  
We went to the river

My Sophomore year was a carbon copy  
Of the ones that came before  
'Til a night in late November  
That shook us all down to the core

We'd won the game by twenty points  
Couldn't wait to celebrate  
But our lead car was goin' way too fast  
They never even hit the breaks  
They went into the river  
Deep in the river

We buried Sharpay Evans  
In the clothes that she'd been wearin'  
Her cheerleader outfit never looked  
So out of place

That sweater and that pleated skirt  
Of red and black and white  
Just didn't belong in that shiny silver case

I moved out to Anderson  
On July 17th of '08  
And I started gettin' letters once a week  
From this friend of mine

I'd gone to school with Taylor McKessie  
From kindergarten on  
She'd say hang in there 'cause  
I just know you're gonna be a star  
She and her boyfriend and a couple of kids  
We've known since long ago  
Set out for the Marais Des Cygne  
To try to cool off by takin' a swim

There'd been a lot of rain that summer  
And the current was too strong  
I heard they did all they could  
But Taylor, she was gone

Into the river  
She died there in the river

I was baptized in that same water  
Gave my soul to Jesus  
How can such a peaceful place  
Be filled with so much pain

'Cause two young mothers lost their daughters  
Right there for no reason  
I swear I'll never go down there again

Back to the river  
That mean ole' river  
That beautiful river  
That damn ole' river  
That damn ole' river..."

Chad stood up at the end of the song and pulled Kelsi into his arms as she cried again, as she always did during this song.

**Dedicated to the memory of William Barnett (1982 – 2006); I miss you so much and love you more! You are the best cousin ever, Willie!**

**The song is an edited version of Chely Wright's 'The River'. All alteration of the song are my own to fit the story line.**


End file.
